These days, you might do business with a co-worker for years and never meet them face to face. Maybe they're in an office across the country or the world, or maybe they -- or you -- work at home. Whatever the reason behind it, working in a different physical space than your colleagues requires adaptations that you might never have anticipated, when you first started interacting remotely. For example, what happens when you need to negotiate with someone, and you can't see their facial expressions?

Every office has at least one: that grumpy guy or lady who won't be charmed, no matter what you do. The problem is that winning over those less-than-friendly folks is essential to your career. Heck, they might even be the boss, and if they aren't, their buy-in or lack of it might prevent you from getting the boss's attention -- at least in any way that you'd want to get it.

To make yourself as attractive a job candidate as possible, you should always be looking for opportunities to pick up a new skill. That doesn't mean you have to attain expert status in order to catch the attention of a hiring manager. However, it's useful to get an idea of exactly what kind of investment you'd have to make, to be considered an expert by those in the know.

Time's annual 100 Most Influential People issue is out, and Beyonce has the cover spot. What makes Bey the Queen? In the words of Sheryl Sandberg, who interviewed Beyonce for the magazine, "Beyonce doesn't just sit at the table. She builds a new one."

The scariest part of interviewing for a new job is knowing that you can't possibly figure out what it will be like to do that job ... until it's too late to turn back. You can do your research, ask smart questions, and ace the interview process, but when it comes right down to it, there's no guarantee that you'll love the gig once you're actually doing it.

When is "late for work" at your company? Depending on what industry you're in and where you live, it could be anywhere from after 8 a.m. to approaching noon. If you live in New York, for example, you enjoy (or are frustrated by) the latest median arrival time of any city in the country, according to data from FiveThirtyEight.

There's a whole wide world out there beyond your office window, even if it doesn't feel like it when project deadlines loom. The good news is that there are a lot of tiny, simple changes you can make, to make the earth a better place -- even if you're celebrating this Earth Day in your cubicle.

When it comes to getting along with folks at the office, there's nothing trickier than knowing when, exactly, to draw a line. What's acceptable behavior in a boss, colleague, or report -- and what's an example of people taking advantage of your good nature?

Managing people is hard enough when you work with them, face to face. Throw in the potential technical glitches and accountability issues of dealing with reports who work from home, and your job gets that much harder.

Need another excuse to make time for a good night's sleep? Getting the recommended seven to eight hours might mean the difference between being just OK at your job and being the office rock star. Sound far-fetched? Consider this.

The "Do What You Love" movement is problematic, to say the least: it undervalues labor performed by people with less access to education, and subtly shifts the blame for poor working conditions on laborers themselves, instead of employers and legislators. But it is worth it to think about what you'd do, if finances didn't dictate that you absolutely had to keep your job, no matter what. For one thing, it might illuminate some things about what your future goals should be.

It's rare to make it through an entire career without ever having a bad job, but there's a big difference between a boring gig and a soul-crusher. The former is a stepping stone to something else; the latter can affect your attitude toward your specific career and the working world in general. Hang on long enough, or endure too much, and it can even make you sick.

Love them or hate them, our bosses are a huge factor in our happiness and success at work. That's bad news if yours doesn't seem to be in your corner, and while there's nothing you can do to make a terrible manager into a fantastic one, there are a few things you can try to get your boss invested in you.

When it comes to manners, everyone has a different idea of what's polite and appropriate. That's a big enough deal in personal communication, but at the office, it's essential to understand where other people are coming from.

We are often our own worst critics, sniping away at our own hopes and dreams before we even have a chance to chart a course of action. It's hard to get much of anything done in the face of so much self-perpetuated negativity. In a TED Talk a few years back, Google's Regina Dugan suggested we ask ourselves one essential question, to change our approach.

Business lunches come in all shapes and sizes, from a department-wide learn at lunch session to a one-on-one interview with a prospective employer. To get the most out of any type of working lunch, you need to know what to expect, and prepare ahead of time.